Episode 7.3 - In the Interest of Cooperation

[robertsharp]

As Russell, the captain, and Sharp make their way back to their quarters from the meeting with the breen captain. Sharp decides to sneaks down a corridor to do some snooping do to he didn't trust the breen at all. Sharp felt that the breen were not being truly honest and were hiding something. But what they are hiding only they know. Sharp finds a room with a computer and no guards around. Sharp enters the room and pulls out a small device that can crack codes. Sharp turns on the computer and scans the computer with the device and after 5 minutes the computer codes are cracked. Sharp goes through the computer and finds what hes looking for that there are atleast 2 or 3 breen ships. then a message pops up on what the breen are supposed to do destroy the victory. Sharp removes his tricorder from the other monitor that was scanning the ships specs. Sharp goes to shut down the computer when he notices that the breen are responsible for the amb.... Sharp hears footsteps ducks out and heads back to his qaurters and hears that the federation officers to report to the captains ready one.

Sharp heads to the captains ready room and meets up with russel and the captain and the captain doesn't look to happy with him. As we hear what the breen captain has to say and then after he finishes we are escorted to the transporter room and beamed back to the victory.


10 minutes later in the captain's ready room the captain explains to the rest of the senior staff what is going on and after everyone gives their 2 cents. then she dismisses everyone and as Sharp goes to exit the captain's ready room and the the captain says "Commander please stay we need to have a little talk.

<tag Cir'Kem >

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

There had been no further drops in the signal strength of the transponder which relieved Tiana a great deal. She was making further progress on the Julienne, it was highly probably that the wreckage belonged to that ship, or at least no one had seen it since.
The sensor logs were coming along as well, it was definitely three figures all pretty much humanoid and between 1.6 and 2 meters in height.

=/\= All Senior Staff to the Captain's Ready Room =/\= It was Commander Nack's voice on the comm. =/\= I have an idea I want to run by you. Quickly. =/\=
Tiana acknowledged the comm and headed for the bridge.

"We have received all the information we can sitting here, haven't we?" The FO started speaking again before anyone else could reply. "I think we should search for the ambassador ourselves."


Tiana wanted to go and check up on her leads but didn't want to leave the Captain behind, or Russell or the new CTSO, although she hadn't actually met him yet.

"I know what you are all thinking - we need to watch the Captain closely... and we don't want the Breen to think we are up to something. But we can still be in proximity to the sensors we have implanted into the Breen as well as looking for clues."

That was possible Tiana mused to herself but she still didn't like it.

"Well, do you have any other ideas? I think we are being a bit useless sitting here watching nothing happen."

"I think," Tiana said slowly when she realised that no one else was saying anything "That although there is further analysis we can carry out here, we would be able to get more information more quickly if we left. I don't think moving the ship at the moment is a good idea though. The Breen might misinterpret it"

Tiana was just grateful that this was not her decision to make.

After the meeting Tiana went back to the main lab to see how things were going and then insist that her staff had something proper to eat. They ended up powering down the touch interface on a couple of the consoles and having a picnic. Not exactly proceedure but very good for morale.


“Attention all Decks Stand down from General Alert Captain Cir”kem is back on board and All Tactical and Medical Teams Stand down ‘

“Attention: all Senior Staff officers a Senior Staff meeting in 5 Minutes in the captain ready room “ Tiana sighed and bolted down her sandwich before heading once again for the bridge.

The meeting began.
“The faster we can find out where the ambassador went the faster we can solve this problem,” Nika said. “Galwyn, I understand you had a lead on where the ship had gone.” At least, Nika guessed so from the fact that the Victory had been moving. “Excellent, give the directions to helm.”

After the meet was over Tiana did as ordered. It did not take the Victory long to reach the site of the wreckage and to confirm that it had once been the Julienne.

Tiana had stayed on the Bridge to monitor the sensors. Now from the information the Breen had given them there were three possibilites. Either the ambassador had been blown up with the Julienne, something Tiana thought unlikely. Or he had been taken by one of the two ships that destroyed the Julienne. Or he had been dropped off at the Julienne sole (unrecorded) stop at Haptan Beta. Of course the warp trails from the two ships were heading in the opposite direction from the planet so it looked like they would have to choose.

Tiana thought for a moment and then checked the warp trails. The ships that had left them were slow. From what they had done to the Julienne they certainly carried a lot of weaponry but it appeared their engines weren't up to much.

"Captain" Tiana said "We can get to Haptan Beta and do a thorough scan and if we don't find anything the Victory can get back here before the warp trails degrade"

tag: anyone on the bridge

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Main Bridge - minutes later

“ Cmdr Matthew had seated himself in the Ops Station chair and Started Tapping at his console making sure making sure everything was ready “ "Helm, status?" Matthew asked to the ensign sitting at the helm position.”

"Helm officer Propulsion systems normal, warp power available at your command," And once we clear the Breen ship we are clear to navigate “

"Cmdr Matthew “Engineering, status report?"

"Engineering officer Voice “All systems go, everything looks good Commander !" replied Lieutenant Matheson from Engineering.”

"Cmdr Matthew: Excellent! Helm, bring warp engines online for station keeping." Matthew turned to address LT, Duchek Sitting at The Tactical station “

“Cmdr Matthew: Mister Duchek I need for you to pull up the latest intelligence reports for the Haptan Beta System”

“Cmdr Matthew :Captain I pull up the Transport ship Schematics and the last maintenance Record’s from the station “

“The Asst, chief Technician on the station reported that one of the Transport ship port nacelle was in need of a total over hall but the ship Captain ask him just to patch he did not have the time he had a schedule he had to keep’

“Cmdr Matthew :This Could be some good news for us Lieutenant Matheson said the Transport ship is a old Whorfin class she can carry at least 200 passengers plus Cargo and can be Modifide to carry weapons .

“Cmdr Matthew : Captain doing some Quick Math with a Bad Warp Nacelle he could not engage his full warp Capacity he would be reduce to only warp 3 any more Then that he risk over heating both engines and risk having to shut down them both and be reduce to just impulse Power Lt ,Matheson Agrees .

<Tag all on the bridge >

[Deleted]

When everyone left, the only crew members left were Sharp, Captain Cir'Kem, and Nack. Captain Cir'Kem did not look pleased.

"What is this all about?" Clearly Commander Sharp had done something aboard the Breen ship, or he would have been dismissed with the others.

<tag Sharp>

Nack couldn't gauge whether the Captain was angry or not, but intrigue got the better of the Ferengi.

"Did you learn anything?"

This must have been what Commander Sharp was waiting for. As a tactical officer, he was trained in collecting information. His eyes beamed with excitement as he explained his findings.

<tag Sharp>

Whether or not the Captain wanted to discipline him was one thing. Whether or not to act upon the information was another.

"Captain, the only problem might be, that the information was planted there, with them knowing that Commander Sharp was a bit of a snoop. Didn't you, in your debrief of the situation, state that he was the one who found and deactivated listening devices in his room?"

She confirmed the statement.

"Then, perhaps they planted some information, put an easy pass-code on it, and set it out for our curious officer to snoop into."

It may be unlikely, but Nack's position required him to help the Captain see all of the possibilities.

"We need to also prepare for a possible attack, though. I suggest we put ourselves on a silent red-alert. Everyone should man their battle positions. We shouldn't sound the horn, though, and we don't want the ship to posture into red-alert mode. We don't want Breen sensors to pick up anything, well, weird."

He turned to Sharp. "We'll discuss your punishment later. Galwyn has been saying that the transporter room needed to be degaussed... and we need to see if our medical tricorders are still in phase. We could..." Nack trailed off in all the possibilities as the Captain pondered if Sharp needed to learn a lesson, and if so, what lesson that would be.

[Deleted]

Nika listened to Tiana's suggestion, before the officer left the ready room, and gave a tentative yes, while leaving it to Commander Matthew to verify the current abilities of the Victory and her ability to go running off to Hapton Beta. He did so, and Nika gave full permission to Tiana to drop by Haptan Beta and, if the ambassador couldn't be found there, to return and follow the warp trail. Nika thought she should be on the bridge if that eventuality came to pass, but she didn't want to leave it unclear what her orders were.

Then Nika released the rest of the crew back to their regular duties, and turned her attention to Sharp. She appreciated that he willingly told both her and Nack what he had done and found out on the Breen ship, but she appreciated much less that he had been snooping around in the first lace. And, although Sharp apparently had numerous suspicions based on what he had found, he didn't actually seem to have found out any new information. Which only led Nika to support her belief that he shouldn't have been snooping around in the first place.

Nika didn't say anything yet, though, letting Nack respond first. “We should go on a silent red alert anyway,” Nika said. “The Breen Captain him/herself said that he/she has received orders to take back the Victory's crew prisoners to Breen. However, since we're heading away from their ships, I think we should be good for the moment.” That was the only kind of rebuttal Nika gave, at least now, though she figured she reserved the right to use Nack's statement to later give discipline, though she wasn't sure she would, just because Nika didn't see that helping anything.

“By all means, do what you need to in order to prepare the Victory for any eventualities,” Nika said, dismissing Sharp. For herself, Nika grabbed a PADD and returned to the bridge to monitor everything that was going on. She figured she could use the PADD to document her own memories of the Breen encounter. After all, it was only seldom that such encounters occurred. “Helm, how long until we reach Haptan Beta?” Nika asked.

“20 minutes,” came the reply.

“Right. What's the political status of Haptan Beta?” Nika asked, not directing the question to anyone specifically, just to whomever would know whether the local government would be inclined to be friendly and cooperative to a Federation ship or not.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana was still on the bridge was the Victory headed towards Haptan Beta. She was receiving regular updates from her team in the main lab. It seemed that the sensor image had finally been recovered and definitely showed three humanoid figures walking across the screen and boarding the Julienne, at least two of the figures were walking, the one in the middle of the trio seemed to be being led.....

Tiana's thoughts trailed off as the Captain's words cut into them “Right. What's the political status of Haptan Beta?” She asked, not directing the question to anyone specifically, just to whomever would know whether the local government would be inclined to be friendly and cooperative to a Federation ship or not.

Tiana pushed some buttons on her console and brought up the relevant data, there wasn't a great deal of it.

"Haptan Beta is a Federation colony world, set-up about 150 years ago, relatively small population only a couple of million, all confined to one continent. Over all a pretty quiet planet. The current elected leader is President Entya. The uninhabited portions of the planet are mostly savannah." Tiana waited to see if anyone wanted further information or indeed if anyone else had information to give.

Tag: anyone on the bridge

[russelldavis]

Russell did not know why but he felt completely wiped out when he left the briefing, unwilling to try to get back to his quarters while he was still meant to be on duty he made his way to his chair on the bridge and brought up a list of personnel that had either requested to see him or were due to have an evaluation. He noted that he still had to evaluate Nack in the next few days or the deadline would get hit before he got round to it, he started a report so that Starfleet would not notice that he did not actually have him in his office.

He was suddenly brought back to reality by an announcement that they had arrived at the planet they hoped the Ambassador was. Looking at the planet Russell wished he could go and visit the people of this world but he doubted that he would be needed. Deciding that he did not really need to be on the bridge he prepared to leave he wrote a message for Tiana.

TO CHIEF SCIENECE OFFICER
FROM SHIPS COUNSELLOR
RE DEPARTMENT EVALUATIONS

THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT IS OVER DUE A FULL PERSONNEL EVALUATION, I EXPECT YOU TO BE TOO BUSY IN THE COMING DAYS SO I WILL LIKE TO SEE ALL PERSONNEL WITHIN THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT DURING OUR RETURN TRIP TO STAR BASE ASSALIANT.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
LIEUTENANT RUSSELL DAVIS, SHIPS COUNSELLOR-USS VICTORY-C

P.S. IF YOU WOULD LIKE, I KNOW A GOOD RESTAURANT ON ASSAILANT WHEN WE GET BACK.

<tag Tiana>

As Russell sent the message he hoped she would not be reading this while speaking to the captain, he had the feeling she might react oddly while reading his message. Walking off the bridge Russell made his way to his quarters to sleep.

[robertsharp]

As sharp leaves the Captain's ready room he heads to wards the turbo lift to head for his quarters to get a sonic shower and change uniform. Sharp thinks about what Nack said about the information he had found.


30 minutes later Sharp exits his quarters and heads back to the bridge and takes his position at tactical. LT. Galwyn I would like all of your info on trying to find the ambassador.



<tagGalwyn>

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana started on sensor scans of the planet Haptan Beta. She had given the Captain all the information she had been able to gather about the planet

The PADD resting on the science station by Tiana's elbow buzzed insistently indicating that she had received yet another message. With a silent sigh and wondering who wanted her to do what now Tiana opened it.

TO CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER
FROM SHIPS COUNSELOR
RE DEPARTMENT EVALUATIONS

THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT IS OVER DUE A FULL PERSONNEL EVALUATION, I EXPECT YOU TO BE TOO BUSY IN THE COMING DAYS SO I WILL LIKE TO SEE ALL PERSONNEL WITHIN THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT DURING OUR RETURN TRIP TO STAR BASE ASALLIANT.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE
LIEUTENANT RUSSELL DAVIS, SHIPS COUNSELOR-USS VICTORY-C

P.S. IF YOU WOULD LIKE, I KNOW A GOOD RESTAURANT ON ASSAILANT WHEN WE GET BACK.

Tiana blinked and then reread the message. She glanced around quickly and noted that Russell had left the bridge. After that she stayed facing the science station and hoped that no one had noticed that she had started smiling as she started typing her reply.

TO SHIP'S COUNSELOR
FROM CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER
RE DEPARTMENT EVALUATIONS

I SHALL INFORM MY DEPARTMENT OF THEIR IMPEDING EVALUATIONS AND IF ANYONE FAILS TO ATTEND PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

IF THERE IS ANY FURTHER HELP I CAN GIVE YOU, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

LT TIANA GALWYN, CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER USS VICTORY-C

P.S. I LOOK FORWARD TO IT. I HOPE WE WILL BE ABLE TO SPEND SOME TIME TOGETHER BEFORE ASSALIANT THOUGH. XXX

Tag: Russell

Tiana sent the message and turned to study the output of her first scans. It didn't seem that the ambassador was her but to be sure she started on a more detailed sensor sweep.

"LT. Galwyn I would like all of your info on trying to find the ambassador". Tiana had been engrossed in her station and had failed to noticed Commander Sharp's return to the bridge. She jumped when he spoke.

"Of course, sir" It took Tiana a couple of minutes of collate all her data and get the updates from her staff who were still beavering away in the main lab. She sent the data across to him.

"Is there are anything else I can do for you, sir?" Tiana asked, she was slightly at a loose end until the sensor sweeps finished.

Tag: Commander Sharp

[jamesmatthew]

SCENE: Cmdr Matthew’s Quarters.

“Stirring from a restful sleep, James began to open his eyes. Feeling
fine, he sat up from the bed. Suddenly a massive head ache waved over him.

“He recognized the feeling, a Stress headache Theses last 36 hours had taken a lot out of him .

He jumped out of bed, and immediately dressed him self and left.

“Outside his door, He once again felt a wave of dizziness over power him. He
felt that a little trip to sickbay was in order.

SCENE: Sickbay; 0715

“Arriving at the sickbay, James took a look around. lying in one of the bio beds was a Junior officer, in the corner was the sift nurse tapping away at a computer pad’


“Cmdr Matthew "Excuse me, Nurse?" is The New Chief Medical officer on Duty
I have a splitting head ache “

“Nurse: Dr, Grebs " .Just Step out But she should be right back if you which to wait Commander .

"Cmdr Matthew I have a splitting head ache and I can't focus, I have a Ship to Keep Operational And A Command Bridge Certification Training course To Teach this morning in Holodeck One ....."

"Ok, Commander , I'll get you something for that."

“The Nurse moved over to a tray filled with hyposprays and medication. She picked up a hypospray, and then one of the vials and walked back over to Cmdr Matthew . As she was injecting him, she said, Commander you need some Hobbies “

“Cmdr Matthew I Know” I Know ‘

SCENE: Outside Holodeck -One

“Ensign Richards stood out side the Holodeck, dreading what he was expecting when he
got inside. This Bridge Certification Training course so far was not going well , and Part 2 of 5 was about to start.

“He entered the room to find Cmdr Matthew standing in the middle of the holo-grid

"Ensign Liam Richards, reporting for Training Sir"

"Cmdr Matthew : Ensign your late." Join the rest of the group ‘

[Deleted]

Doctors made the worst patients. That's what one could commonly hear through the galaxy. It didn't matter the race. Nack never viewed himself as a bad patient, though. He just didn't see the purpose of getting probed and prodded. He was a Doctor. Well, a doctor by way of his training. He knew when there was something wrong, and he would see someone if he felt he needed to.

Further, a counselor type was not his cup of tea. Especially since so few were versed in Ferengi psychology. It was less complex, and logic played only a small role. Psychiatric evaluations tend to extend well past the realm of the Ferengi psyche, but the 4 lobed brain was simpler than the size implied. Most of the neural activity was inactive. Evolution had decreased the amount brain power, as a sharper and more concise business doctrine tended to be the fittest.

Being mentally fit, though, was not on the forefront of his mind as he approached Commander Davis's office. With a deep breath, he entered.

It was his first time in the Victory's counseling office. The place was a serene setting, and while there were more important things to be done aboard the ship, Nack found himself in need of some guidance. With crew members snooping around, and the Captain constantly leaving the ship, Nack was beginning to lose his mental composure. He should be used to it by now. His short stature and quick decisions were rarely respected. Although he was found acceptable by Starfleet to be executive officer of the ship, the ship may not have found him acceptable yet.

"Are you busy?" Nack asked Davis, as he entered. He didn't wait for a reply before he sat down on a bench that was strangely comfortable. It was unusual for Nack to find anything Starfleet issue to be comfortable.

The red alert claxon was not beeping, nor did he alert the crew like he had suggested. After the Captain questioned the move, he began to question his own abilities yet again. Thus, leading him to where he was now.

"I need a checkup, and I figured while we were on the way to Haptan Beta I might as well pay a visit." He was beating around the bush, and it was quite clear that more was on the First Officer's mind than just a simple checkup that he had been avoiding.

The Counselor was sharp, though. He could pick up on such things.

"You aren't busy are you?" Nack stood up, realizing he had barged in. "I'll leave if you want." He hoped the answer would be that he could stay and speak his mind.

[Deleted]

Nika thought about what Commander Galwyn had said. From what she could hear, it seemed that it would be fairly easy to check if the ambassador was there or not. But it would also be very important not to tread on the toes of President Entya.

Nack had left the bridge, but Nika knew she would be able to find him if she needed him. She supposed his leaving meant she had to talk to Entya herself, rather than pawning it off to her XO. Which was fine, she guessed, just—Nika knew Nack would have done a better job of it.

“I'll be in my ready room if you need me,” she informed the bridge crew. Nika didn't anticipate being needed, but she knew by now to prepare for the worst and for constant interruptions.

Once in her ready room, Nika requested a channel open to President Entya. Naturally enough, the President was not available to talk with any random Federation Captain. So Nika waited patiently while she was transferred to some minister that was apparently charge of communication with the rest of the Federation. “How may I help you, Captain...”

“Cir'Kem,” Nika answered. “My ship, the Victory, is currently on route to Haptan Beta.” She held up a hand, trying to be able to explain the reason before being asked any questions. “There's a possibility that one of the ships that visited you recently had an abducted Ambassador on board. We believe that that Ambassador may have been dropped off on your planet. I don't, by any means, hold you responsible for it, or believe it was a lapse in your security that would have allowed it, but your cooperation would help us to rescue the Ambassador.”

“Of course, anything we can do to help.”

“If you don't mind, a list of all ships that have visited your ports or been in orbit of your planet over the past five days. In addition, a list of passenger manifests, and anything else that would identify how many people entered your ports—security scans and the like.”

“I'll get that to you as soon as possible.”

“In addition, I'd like to get the Victory into orbit and do a quick scan of your regularly non-inhabited areas. Would that be alright?

“Yes, it would.”

“Excellent,” Nika replied. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“You're welcome.”

Then the channel closed, and Nika allowed herself a slow sigh. She'd actually managed to talk to someone and convince them to cooperate with her. Sure, she'd done so before, but not quite in a similar situation, and she was, at least, pleased with herself.

Her initial objective completed, Nika returned to the bridge to inform relevant people that they would be getting more data to analyze and compare with that of the Breen and station. There were times when Nika was very happy she wasn't in science, and therefore not directly responsible for this, anymore.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana was beginning to get frustrated with Haptan Beta. The government had proved very co operative and had sent her details of the Julienne's visit, which showed nothing out of the ordinary and she had scanned 99.7% of Haptan Beta and found nothing.

Of course that mean the 0.3% was the interesting bit.

Tiana left the science station and press the chime on the Captain's door.

"Come" Nika said.

"I've found something very suspicious" Tiana said. "There are a series of caves under the savannah on the southern continent and in one group of caves about a kilometer underground there is a strong forcefield. The Liason Minister denied all knowledge but said that the unpopulated areas of the planet were occasionally used by smugglers."

Tag: Captain Cir'Kem

"I could modify the Victory's sensors to penetrate the forcefield but I estimate that that would take at least five hours and then we risk losing the other ships."

Tag:

"I think the quickest way to find out what 's down there would be to go and look, But of course any team would be going in blind."

Tag:

[jamesmatthew]

USS Victory-C :

Scene: Operation’s Department Conference Room

“This was James first Departmental meeting since getting underway on this mission . James had spent the hours before reviewing the files of every member in his Department, playing special attention to the Division heads. “

“He also studied the inner workings of how the Operation’s Departments interacted with each other. Departments On the Victory, he had seven Division Head’s which was needed to keep a Nebula Class fully Operational “

“The Victory had more Then Seven Departments including Operation s Which mean there was seven times the headache. Each Department head had an agenda, special projects they wanted resources for, they wanted more space, or more staff or more this or that. “

“They actually competed with each other to get what they needed. How they function together doing A mission a mystery to me , .

“ Cmdr Matthew had looked through the Ship Officers Service Records for a New good Assistant Chief of Operations Lt Cmdr Jeremiah Frost my Former Assistant has been Reassigned to Star base 245 leaving me in a bit of a pickle “

“As Any Commanding officer Know a Good Xo is must To keep Thing Up and running “

“But I did get some good New I stumbled across Lt ,Cmdr Abrea Denizen, a Saldonian She the Division head of the Beta Sift . She had a good general knowledge of Ship Operations most and She had previously served aboard another ship in the 1st & 2nd , before being transferred to the Victory .

“At the end of the meeting, Cmdr Matthew decided to inform them of his choice. "Finally, I am going to name my Assistant , it will be Lt, Cmdr Denizen. If there are no further questions, I would like to close this meeting."

“The Division heads began to file out of the room. He did notice a smug look Abrea gave to the Delta Division head; he was going to see what that was about later. Chief Petty Officer Tellico stayed behind to discuss something with me .

[robertsharp]

Bridge


As sharp goes through all the information he received from the science officer and the breen ship. Sharp tries to scan the area where the sensors can't reach but picks something up but the scan bounces back. That needs to be checked out and a visit would be much more useful. Sharp heads to the captains ready room. rings the chime. and then hears the captain say enter.


"Captain i was going over the Lt's findings and i don't think we have enough time to modify the sensors. WE must take an away team down and investigate immediately. Permission to take the LT. here and a security team down there.



<tagCir'Kem and Galwyn >

[Deleted]

Leaving Davis's office, not much better than he arrived, the Ferengi first officer made his way back to the bridge. The crew had been notified of their arrival to Haptan Beta. He hadn't considered himself needed for opening remarks. Most people in the universe couldn't get past the fact that he was a Ferengi in Starfleet. It usually made first impressions strained.

He stopped in the doorway, waiting his turn, overhearing Security Officer's suggestion. Captain Cir'kem explained that they already had permission to do some scouting if need be. "Phew," Nack thought. He wouldn't have to worry about sharpening his teeth for anyone.

Sharp finished his explanation. Nack liked the idea. The ship was stuffy, they had permission to land on the planet. The ship operations team could still do scans from orbit.

"I agree with him Captain. But this time, I think I should be the one who goes with the away team. Especially after Sharp's little snooping attempt last time, I would feel much more comfortable if there was some oversight. " He hadn't witnessed Lieutenant Galwyn on an away mission yet either. Sending so many new people, no matter how qualified, could prove reckless.

"Besides, Captain, You should stay here, since you have already established a good report with the heads of state." He smiled, showing his shiny yellows. "I'll assemble the team. Commander Sharp, Lieutenant Galwyn, I suggest you start packing your gear!"

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana was waiting for the Captain's response when the door chime went. Nika, seemingly expecting the interruption called for whoever it was to enter.

It was the new CTSO.

"Captain i was going over the Lt's findings and i don't think we have enough time to modify the sensors. WE must take an away team down and investigate immediately. Permission to take the LT. here and a security team down there.". It seemed the security chief had hit the ground running as it were, Tiana wished she had had a chance to get to know him better before being dropped into a potentially dangerous situation with him, but then this was StarFleet....

Tiana was being to become lost in her musings when the FO spoke up. He had apparently over heard enough of their conversation to know what was being suggested.
"I agree with him Captain. But this time, I think I should be the one who goes with the away team. Especially after Sharp's little snooping attempt last time, I would feel much more comfortable if there was some oversight. " That was one debate Tiana was going to stay out of.

"Besides, Captain, You should stay here, since you have already established a good report with the heads of state." And that was another debate she was not going to get involved in. Tiana was grateful that she was only in command of a Lab.
"I'll assemble the team. Commander Sharp, Lieutenant Galwyn, I suggest you start packing your gear!"

And that was pretty much the end of the debate. Tiana headed back down to the Lab to gather her things. Most of her standard research kit was laying in a heap on what was officially her desk but in reality was mostly used to pile things on.

Most of her kit went into a shoulder bag, she holstered her tricorder on her right hip, strapped on a wrist torch and then tried to make up her mind about a phaser. Her first instinct was not to take one but she knew that was sensible. She decided it was better to have and not need (especially given that she wasn't the best shot in the galaxy) than to need and not have...

Tiana glanced at the pile of things on her desk grabbed a laser sample cutter and tossed it into her bag before reporting to the transporter room.

tag: away team.

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Cmdr Matthew 's Office

“James sat in his chair staring at the computer screen. Lt, Cmdr Galwyn had uploaded the Latest Intel on the Haptan Beta System to his computer “

.. He Needed to familiarize himself with the Haptan Beta System “

“He walked over to the small replicator.

"Computer, coffee, black."

“A steaming mug appeared. Matthew picked the mug up and took a sip from
it. He sat back down. He was trying hard to learn what he could, but his
knowledge of Geo science was rather limited. He sighed and started the report for the 4th time.”


"Computer voice >, Commander based on Lt, Cmdr Galwyn preliminary ecology reports of The Haptan Beta System is comprised of a sun three moons and six planets and the planet Trulo IV, a Class M Planet is the only Cognized planet

the planet is comprised of Three continents the other six planets are class Y planet They characterized by a toxic Atmosphere, surface Temperatures exceeding 500 Kelvin, and thermionic radiation discharges incapable of sustaining life ?"



“Matthew sighed. He began on he continue to listen to the report.

Bridge officer voice . Cmdr Matthew you are needed on the bridge

"Commander Matthew hit his comm. badge. On my way bridge Matthew out.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana reached the transporter room and was surprised to find that she was the first there. As she stood waiting for the others she realised that she was scared, there was a twitchy feeling in her stomach that refused to go away no matter how many times she told herself that they were only going for a look-and-see.

She drew a PADD from her bag and typed quickly.

TO: SHIP'S COUNSELOR
FROM: CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER

RUSSELL
I AM GOING ON AWAY MISSION TO HAPTAN BETA. DO YOU WANT TO GO FOR A DRINK + A MEAL WHEN I GET BACK?
TIANA XXX

She finished typing the messaged and then sent it. She had just returned the PADD to her shoulder bag when the rest of the away team started to arrive.

Tag: rest of away team.

[Deleted]

"I hope the climate is moderate. I packed conservatively, and only replicated standard outfits." He smiled at the Science officer. The woman was always punctual, which meant he always needed to come up with some excuse to explain why he was always a tick behind everyone else.

"Where's Mr. Sharp?" Funny, it was his idea to go down to the surface. Nack answered his own question, "He probably is running around trying to scrounge enough crew members. Between you and me, I've had a few complaints."

It was only partially true. Some of the tactical and security team got wind of their chief officer's snooping attempt on the Breen ship. It wasn't that he snooped that got them talking. It was that he snooped and came up empty handed. That was the rumor floating around. Nack heard it while eating dinner the previous evening.

"I assume you brought the data with you?" Nack sure didn't. He was too busy organizing duty assignments before he left.

<Tiana>

The transporters fired up as the Lieutenant in charge ran his hand up the power slider. "Ready when you are, sir"

Sharp came around the corner, dropping a phaser as he did so, reminding everyone of their weapons.

Nack rolled his eyes, "Ah, yes, weapons." It was the one piece of protocol that Security actually enjoyed adhering to. "Are we ready?" Everyone nodded.

"Energize."

[jamesmatthew]

Scene: Main Bridge

“Cmdr Matthew Exited on to the bridge Status Please“

“Ensign Matt Baker at the Helm >We Are in orbit of Trulo IV in the Haptan Beta system”

“Lt ,Jg Maria Grayson Manning the Science Station> we are currently scanning the Area where the away team will be transporting down all clear so far “

“Lt, Terry Braddock At the Engineering Station > we are currently holding station impulse engines are fully operational and all system are in the green’

“Lt, Jamie Kell at the Ops Station all ship system and Departments all read green the Away team is in transporter room three awaiting ordered to Transport down to the planet “
“Cmdr Matthew walked over to the Ops station.”

"Computer, pull up the a Area map of where the Away Team will transport down to ."

“relieving the ops officer He sat down, briefly looking over the initial data. Matthew knew that his program would take several minutes to collect all the data he wanted, but he still wanted to see if anything jumped out at him.”

“Commander Nack I here we are sending down a Away team I didn’t know we had receive permission from the Haptan Beta government to do so ‘

<Tag Nack >

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

Tiana had just decided that it was probably more sensible to wear her shoulder bag across her body rather than simply over her shoulder, she fiddled with the strap to lengthen it and had just resettled the bag when the FO arrived.

"I hope the climate is moderate. I packed conservatively, and only replicated standard outfits."
"We're beaming directly into one of the cavern chambers above the forcefield. The air is good and the temperature is, although cooler than the surface within tolerable limits." Tiana replied. She wasn't 100% sure that the FO had processed her response as he continued right on with another question

"Where's Mr. Sharp?" Funny, it was his idea to go down to the surface. Nack answered his own question, "He probably is running around trying to scrounge enough crew members. Between you and me, I've had a few complaints."
Tiana made no comment, not that the FO paused long enough for her to do so anyway.

"I assume you brought the data with you?" The FO stopped speaking long enough for Tiana to answer this time. She fished a PADD from the top of her bag and held it up. "Right here." She had also programmed a map of the cave system into her tricorder.

At that point Nack's comm badge chirped. =/\=Commander Nack I here we are sending down a Away team I didn’t know we had receive permission from the Haptan Beta government to do so=/\=

Tiana took one look at the expression on Nack's face, suppressed a laugh and spoke very quietly assuming that The FO's Ferengi hearing was more sensitive than his comm bade. "The Liaison Minister gave me permission to investigate the cave system on the condition that I file a report with him on whatever we find."

Tag:Nack

Commander Sharp arrived at that moment.

"Ah, yes, weapons." The FO said. Tiana patted the phaser at her side. "Are we ready?" Everyone gathered on the transporter platform.

"Energize."

The bright lights of the Victory dissappeared and were replace by the darkness of the Haptan Beta cave. Tiana flicked her wrist torch on and drew her tricorder scanning round quickly. Everyone was present and correct. They had arrived a couple of hundred meters from the force field.

"We need to head this way." Tiana said pointing her torch towards as side tunnel that snaked downwards into the darkness.

tag: rest of away team.

[Deleted]

Nack let out a little shiver before he jumped into a full stride to catch up with Commander Galwyn. She had forgotten that with an enlarged head such as that on a Ferengi, large amounts of bodily heat escaped. The 'slightly cool' cave system was just plain cold to Nack. It was just bearable enough, though, not to mention it to the officer in the lead.

Nack returned to their beam-in site to yank Sharp into moving. He was still in the process of scouring the area, phaser drawn as away-mission protocol dictated. The rest of the away team had already placed theirs into its holster at their waste, but Sharp seemed intent to be most thorough of the group. "Commander Galwyn's tricorder showed no threats. Let's go!" The last order came out as a bark, but it was meant to be a polite suggestion. A shiver came over Nack as he re-followed Tiana's path.

The com-badge on his vest beeped a few times rapidly, before finally falling silent. "We've gone out of range. We are too deep." Nack announced. The Victory crew couldn't reach them below the tons of magnesite that covered the cave system. The thought of not being able to call the Victory for help caused Nack to grasp his phaser as he walked. He had no idea what he was going to find down here... what kind of monsters dwelled in these caves... or what kind of smugglers he was going to run into. "Smugglers" was a harsh term, the Ferengi decided. On Ferenginar, calling someone a smuggler was one of the most derogatory remarks one could make. My, how Starfleet culture differed.

The energy reading of the forcefield would strengthen, then weaken, then strengthen even more than before as they would round each corner. The snakelike passages were well lit with the wrist lights, but the eeriness of what may lie behind them started to catch up with the crew. As Nack stumbled, the entire team turned, half with phaser out, to see what was behind them.

"Just me... I'll be alright. We all need to be a little less jumpy. I know it's the first time off the ship for some of you." For the most part, though, they were doing excellent.

A slight hum could be heard, probably indicative that they were within audible range of whatever was emitting the field. Nack made his way to the front of the group, Sharp immediately behind him, both wanting to take a protective posture over the female officer. "Sharp, you go first, make sure it's clear. Commander Galwyn and I will follow."

Sharp eagerly rounded the corner, his face glowed a light blue as he looked at the underground forcefield. Nack and the crew turned their wrist lights off, as it was bright enough to light the cave. "What do you see!?" Nack whispered as loud as one could whisper. "Anything?"

<Sharp>

He turned back to Tiana. "Ready when you are..." The science officer was looking at her tricorder, still examining readings. "Something look wrong?"

As Nack asked, the glow on Sharp's face faded slightly, until it was completely dark. Nack turned his wrist light back on to compensate, but found no trace of the security officer.

"Sharp! Robert Sharp!" No answer.

"Did he go in?" Nack asked Tiana, panicking. She shrugged. Her guess was as good as his. "Quick, we need to find him!" The slinked their way around the corner, staying close. Nack's wrist light led the way.

[Tiana Galwyn Cet]

The away team walked through the tunnel. Tiana had kept the lead. She stopped at a corner. A blue glow and a hum emanated from around the corner. They had reached the forcefield, Nack and Commander Sharp came up behind her and shut off their torches.
"Sharp, you go first, make sure it's clear. Commander Galwyn and I will follow." Nack said

Sharp rounded the corner and Nack spoke in loud whispers to him. Tiana listened as the CTSO reported what he could see. Suddenly the energy readings on her tricorder started to fluctuate She peered at the small screen and pressed buttons trying to pin down the source of the readings.

"Ready when you are..." Nack said, Tiana barely looked up. This wasn't right. "Something look wrong?"

Before Tiana could formulate a reply the blue glow faded to blackness and seemingly the Commander faded too.

"Sharp! Robert Sharp!" Nack's voice was harsh in the quiet. The background hum seemed to have died as well. The silence that followed was smothering.

"Did he go in?" Nack asked Tiana merely shrugged in response her readings so far made no sense. "Quick, we need to find him!"

Tiana followed Nack around the corner. The forcefield was still up and there was no trace of Commander Sharp. Tiana fought down an edge of panic and reprogrammed her tricorder to search for biological material specifically human. Of course neither she nor Nack would muddle the scan.

"The Commander isn't the first human to stand at this point. There's DNA traces from at least two others."

tag

Tiana nudged the FO back and kept scanning. "I think he was taken by a transporter beam although it's not a signature I recognise."

tag

She shrugged "I don't know if it was some sort of entry system or a protection system. Even at this range I can't get any readings beyond the force field. I'm pretty sure I can breach the force field but I don't know if I'll trigger any alarms doing so." She sighed. She hated feeling helpless and now she was really scared. She concentrated on her tricorder screen and hoped that no one would noticed that her hands were shaking.

tag

A thought struck her "I think I can rig up something to mask our biosigns although I can't detect any further scanning. My current hypothesis is that the blue light was part of some sort of scanning system. Why it hasn't reactivated I don't know but I think we should move back round the corner anyway."

The away team relocated to back behind the corner and the discussion continued.

[Deleted]

"I had the same idea as well, Commander," The blue light did fade in and out at a regular pace before Sharp disappeared. Perhaps it did scan him. Still, where did Sharp go? The DNA evidence on the ground was indicative of a more brutal demise, yet the crew remained hopeful that Galwyn's transporter theory held.

"Fall back everyone," this had been Nack's first away mission as a full fledged First Officer, and he took his role as a planner and safety coordinator seriously. "If that blue field turns back on, I don't want to be the next pile of slime." Nack's words came a bit insensitive, but political correctness was not the Ferengi's forte, and thus it was mildly excusable. At least, nobody had complained. He modified his comment to incorporate the other possibility, "Or beamed off to who-knows-where."

With his bases covered, he queried Tiana. "How long will it take to modulate each of the tricorders to mask our biosigns?" He was aware of the procedure with medical tricorders. The tricorders that Tiana was using were a newer model, and although he had been briefed on their functionality at their arrival, he left the analysis to the Chief of Science.

<Tiana>

Turning to everyone, shaking his wrist light as it flickered, he gained a steady emittance. "Our first priority is to find Commander Sharp, or at least ascertain on whether he had been disintegrated or dematerialized." he shivered due to the cold and continued, "Second, we need to find out what is on the other side of that forcefield, and why it appears hostile." Of course, it could also be a passive monitoring system, but Commander Nack felt it was best to assume the worst.

With the clear orders given, the crew modulated their tricorders to the settings that Commander Galwyn gave them. The alternate panel on each of them flatlined, indicating no lifesigns were present. "Excellent. Now let's go".

Nack, followed by Tiana, followed by the few others in their party, all crept around the wall as they did the first time. The only difference was, there was no blue glow. A slow humming could be heard as they approached a man-made gate, but again, no glow.

Nack stuck out his hand, against his better judgment. A forcefield blocked the gate's entryway, and it shimmered at the disturbance. Nothing changed around them. "We need to deactivate this! Whoever does it, though will be exposing themselves, assuming they use a tricorder. It doesn't have enough energy to emit a reverse-pulse-harmonic AND mask your lifesign." Nack stood around pondering.

"Suggestions on how to proceed." He had a few science team members with him. Why not pick their brains? He shivered in the cold again.

<tag>